Augustine volcano lies in southwestern Cook Inlet, southcentral coastal Alaska, 180 kilometers southwest of Anchorage. The name Mount St. Augustine was in use during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries, following the naming of the volcano by Captain James Cook on St. Augustine's day (May 26) in 1778. During the Russian occupation of Alaska, the volcano was known as Chernabura, a local corruption of the Russian name (Ostrov) Chernoburoy, meaning black-brown (island). Augustine volcano, a postglacial island volcano in lower Cook Inlet, is part of the eastern Aleutian arc. Debris avalanche activity on Augustine Island presents a special hazard in the lower Cook Inlet region -- the impact of such rock slides into the sea can create tsunamis (as during a historic eruption in 1883). During the past six historic eruptions much of the Cook Inlet region has been affected by regional ash falls. Less explosive, extrusive dome growth has marked the later phases of all six historic eruptions.